Dr. Benjamin’ Systems Thinking Blog

 South Korea, having recently undergone the shock of an attempted self-coup by a sitting president in the 21st century, is currently abuzz with a topic that has surfaced from the depths of our society: "Shamanism." Why do people rely on shamanism to make critical decisions? The roots of this behavior run deep. When the ancient Greeks felt anxious about the uncertain future, they sought answers from the Oracle of Delphi , even for decisions that would determine the fate of their nation. This blog series will explore computer models , which serve as the standard for modern decision-making, much as the Delphic Oracle did in the past. There is a growing tendency to treat computer models as "objective" and "omniscient," akin to the ancient oracles. With the integration of Artificial Intelligence , this tendency has intensified. We often marvel at the spectacular results without scrutinizing the underlying reasoning process, effectively granting these models th...

  I Got Stuck on “Why Systems Thinking?” In my last post, I compared two ways to teach Systems Thinking: outside-in and inside-out . I still find the contrast useful. Outside-in starts with a finished framework and asks learners to apply it. Inside-out starts from within a subject and lets the need for Systems Thinking emerge. Then I hit a wall. If the main claim is “Systems Thinking is good,” I am not sure that claim can survive the next decade. In an AI-rich era, “good” and “new” do not last long. New tools and new methods arrive every week. If we sell Systems Thinking as the next good thing, it can be replaced by the next good thing. So I have been asking a harder question: If novelty is not the point, what teacher-facing problems does Systems Thinking solve? I do not mean this as a slogan. I mean it as a design constraint. If I cannot name the problems, I cannot justify the work. I cannot design training that teachers will keep using. I also cannot write a serious paper ...

  Outside-In vs Inside-Out: Two Approaches to Teaching Systems Thinking When I design systems thinking instruction, I keep returning to two approaches: outside-in and inside-out . They differ not only in what we teach, but also in why , when , and in what order we teach it. More important, they help explain patterns I see in classrooms—why some lessons take root while others stay as “one more tool” that students forget. I do not treat these approaches as a matter of preference. I treat them as two different logics for making learning stick. 1) Outside-In: Start with the finished framework Outside-in moves from the “outside” (a well-formed system) into the learner’s thinking. I present key concepts and tools in clear form first, and then ask learners to apply them. A typical sequence looks like this: “This is causal loop diagram notation: (+) and (–).” “This is a stock-and-flow diagram. A stock changes only through flows (integration).” “This is a behavior-over-time...